I voted

Somehow, the U.S. seems to have lost sight of the historic nature of this election, but I haven’t! Yeah, I’m with her! Happily so. Not “just because she’s a woman,” although that would be a valid reason for me. We don’t criticize people for voting for President Obama “just because he’s black.” And no one criticized the Democrats who voted Republican in 1984 because they didn’t want a woman even in second place on the ticket (Geraldine Ferraro). I absolutely did not vote for the lesser of two evils. I think Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate and she has good ideas and the most realistic plans of any candidate for how to achieve them. Whether she can realize any of them is another question, but it won’t be for lack of trying.

Thorin came along for the ride.

Our voting precinct has changed, so we used to all vote at the town hall, but now I vote at my dad’s church. Parking lot was full. There were about ten people waiting to register, about 40-50 people waiting in lines for voter numbers, and about 20 people casting ballots. I was voter 3666. This is the sign outside the entrance to voting. In Wisconsin we’re not allowed to take photos inside the polling place.

This is the old sanctuary, where my first memory takes place, where the funeral service for my mother was held. They voted to tear it down. Not big enough to hold everyone during worship anymore.

I’m including this photo just because I think it’s funny. And so typical of around here. Deer harvest is not far off. The orange sign is for a series of events for the grass widows and widowers, I guess.

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67 Responses to “I voted”

Apparently wearing an “I voted today” sticker opened me up to political opinions at the grocery store. A woman ahead of me in line (I’m 90% sure was a transvestite) wants Melania over Bill. I brought up Pence and she didn’t know who he was.

That is fascinating. Too bad for the GOP, though, since (although I disagree with his opinions vehemently), Pence would actually be a serious candidate and he was kind of the GOP’s best argument for the presidency …

Thank you. I believe it’s very important for all to vote, to exercise one’s democratic right, but particularly as a woman, I believe it’s super-important not to take for granted what was denied for too many years.
Also, as a European, thank you. Trump is not high-office material.

Well, Bill Clinton was a scandal ridden fellow, too. The problem for me is more what he legitimates. I wouldn’t have been a supporter of Ted Cruz or John Kasich (the last two GOP competitors standing), but they were recognizable as conservative politicians. I opposed their politics but they fell within the US democratic tradition; they were visible on our political spectrum. Trump doesn’t. He seeks to end the tradition and destroy our political process. In 2000, I was depressed about the election — but if Trump wins, I will feel physically afraid in my own country. I realized a few months ago that I’ve essentially been holding my breath around a certain number of vital decisions and that the election was the reason.

On a conventional scale, all politicians are untrustworthy; most contradict themselves. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m not talking about behaviors I don’t like (although admittedly the character issue is important to me.) Rather, the issue is that he seeks to destroy politics as we know them. He wants an end to free press, an introduction of religious discrimination into American immigration law, an end to the right to assemble, an end to free speech.

Basically, he doesn’t have a democratic mindset. He’s a demagogue. Apart from religious discrimination, there’s also the racist issue. This is what I meant by “disturbing things”. You just say it so much better.

Well done. We were feeling quite anxious at work today. At some point in the afternoon we turned towards each other and chatted about it. We all said the same, we can’t even think about waking up the same way we did after the referendum, it would be so much worse. Most of us are glue to the TV hoping for the best possible outcome.
Interesting you get to vote in church, back home it was always in schools.

I have spent a lot of time in the last few years saying “the sun will still rise tomorrow,” but it’s really hard. Things are out of hand here and it’s hard to see how they will fall back into place anytime soon.

re: church — we always voted at the town hall, but the town is a lot bigger now and there isn’t another large structure that isn’t occupied (schools would be the obvious second choice). It’s very strange to me to vote in church.

Past 2am and i just can’t take the anxiety anymore have to go to bed. The way the swing states counting is going right now playing havoc with my nerves. Praying to not wake up to an orange president. Then hopefully the mending can start though i understand what an uphill battle that is. We’re an awful example 😣 wishing you strength xx

I hope you’re keeping well, Serv. Things have been crazy on this end. Not much time to spend on the net – I have a lot of catching up to do with your blog, among other things.
What better thing to do at 2am, while following an election?🙂
I know it’s early yet, but there’s a flock of butterflies in my tummy.

it’s mostly been news lately — not much reflection; not that I haven’t been reflecting, but time has been short.

So far nothing has gone drastically wrong in terms of her election plan — I think we’re all nervous about Florida, mainly. Nothing surprising. But the people who were hoping for a quick landslide based on some very optimistic polls are disappointed.

I’m still amazed that Trump came this far. Perhaps flabbergasted is a more appropriate description.
According to the BBC, ABC is reporting that Republicans will keep control of the House, and it looks like Florida is going to Trump.

You interpreted correctly. There’s only time for work and home at the moment, and I could do with a few extra hours a day🙂 Any extra time spent thinking is work (science)-related, so all other reflection has been set aside. One of these years…..

it’s insane that he made it this far. I think the GOP was always going to keep control of the House and FL has been a tossup. What’s concerning is that she’s lagging in Virginia. Otherwise things are okay — this just isn’t going to be over as quickly as it was last time, whatever happens.

DJIA futures fell 500 points in the last hour, and the peso is crashing against the dollar — 22 year low. I remember how bad it was in Mexico back then. Those poor people. They certainly didn’t want this, but if trade barriers rise again Mexico is the first victim.

I feel like I just woke up to a nightmare. I don’t know what to say.
I’m not American, but lived in the US for several years, and am incredibly fond of the country. I’m just so sorry. This isn’t good for either the US or the world😦
Sending hugs across the pond.

I know, Serv. It’s almost surreal, and a part of me doesn’t think this could be true. I feel afraid for the US.
I’m also incredibly sorry for Hillary. A lifetime of work….for this?!
The world seems to have gone mad.
What do we do?

I also think she now probably faces years of investigation, if Trump keeps his promise. If I were her, I might emigrate. If I were me, I might emigrate. Oh wait, I am me. But there’s dad … honestly. No idea what will happen next but I see no hope.

I don’t know how the landscape is going to change in the US. If I’m reading this correctly, the Republicans will take the House and Senate. I can’t help but think about the supreme court.
Re: investigations. It’s appalling that a president would contemplate this, and that the motivation behind it would be pure vengeance. How is this even possible? I can’t help but hope that there’s somebody reasonable in the background who steps in and prevents him from going down that route, but how likely is that, given the people he seems to surround himself with?
My husband and I were talking about potentially moving back to the US in the next few years. Now…..

I think back to Gerald Ford and his decision to pardon Nixon — probably cost him the subsequent election — but Nixon had committed actual crimes and as far as I can tell Hillary Clinton has not. It’s so totally ridiculous, but I can see Trump doing it, as he will almost certainly be tried for fraud and racketeering over the Trump University stuff. The child rape charge I think is probably frivolous and won’t make it to court — but not without a lot more publicity than it’s gotten.

Given your last name, I wouldn’t move here right now. Sorry to say that. You should come, of course, if your professional futures lead you here, but if you do come, stay in a large urban area. By no means move to a rural university. I would not bring non-White kids to a rural area in the US right now. Even my American citizen friends are talking about it with worry — I have a friend from college, Egyptian, naturalized, married an American, they have a son who starts college in a year, and they were looking at a couple fairly rural campuses but they are justly afraid now.

The child rape charge is in court Federal court in NY now. It’s a civil suit. I have second hand inside info from a colleague who’s friends with some media people is that the reason they hardly covered the story is that, from what they heard from lawyers in the know, the case had no legs and the allegations were dubious. Also, I think the statute of limitations is impenetrable now, even if there is a case. The most they could toll is the time of her minority from 13 to 18, maybe 21. I am not so sure it didn’t happen, but I think the S/L is a real problem.

Honestly, I can’t wrap my head around it – I only know I never felt safe from the time he got the nomination – and then it got worse when no matter what came out about him, it just didn’t matter. One appointment I truly fear is Rudy Giuliani, either as AG or on the court. If you don;t know already, check out his threat and the litigation which ensued when he threatened to cut funding for the Brooklyn Museum over a controversial exhibit. Really good, right thinking lawyers, had to stand up and argue against the first amendment.

yeah — he’s like Rick Scott (former TX governor) — if you disagree with it, he takes it personally and he will do anything to ruin YOU. I recognize the personality. These people do not understand principle, only expediency.

But the whole list of people who will now be nominated to lead the government — Gingrich, Christie, Arpaio — they’re all like that. I feel like anyone who’s not a rich white man is in the crosshairs.

I’m still in shock.
The last sentence in your post, about your friends, makes me incredibly sad. In the past few months, there have been some instances of racism where I live, even though about 75% of the votes here were for remain. I’m fortunate that I haven’t experienced it, but several colleagues have. How did this become acceptable?
There’s an article in the Guardian today about the reasons for Trump/Brexit. It’s an interesting read, though I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of it.
This has brought home (again) that there’s a big divide in society. How do we bridge that?
How is the US (and the world) going to cope with 4 years of Trump. Thinking about the people that he could pick as advisers is scary. What about the Paris treaty? Supreme court? NATO?

I’ve read a lot of articles about “what happened” and I haven’t found one that really convinced me yet — but I think that at this point they are mostly written from the perspective of whatever the writer thinks is most important, based on limited data. It’s going to take a week or two for things to settle out and for political scientists to look at them more closely. One thing that’s clear to me is that the current polling model (even for people like Nate Silver, who understands it better than anyone else IMO) is completely defective. If they can’t figure out who is actually going to vote, their data is useless.

For the world I am most worried about NATO / Paris climate accords. For me personally I am most worried about the ACA (I am an Obamacare recipient) and the employment situation. For our society in general I am most worried about the racism, sexism, reproductive rights, and growing income inequality. There’s just no silver lining here at all.

Racist and sexist attacks are escalating here more or less by the hour as far as I can tell.

Now it’s true, the election is over and you have a new president. I can’ t felicitate you, but I hope he has good advisor so maybe he will transforme into a responsable politician. It scares me, that the populists in different countries have so much success.

My computer repair guy this morning was crying intermittently. He’s worried about the environmental piece of it. My dad is happy. So were the women at the coffee table next to me in the café … so it goes. Half of us voted for him.

My thoughts exactly. I get the frustration that some feel, but trying to turn back the clock won’t help them. Everything is in limbo now, or so it seems. All the progress in diversity, climate change, etc. – very sad and somewhat scary. To some extent also, because these events strongly challenge my own morals and believe systems

it’s hard to hang onto one’s values of tolerance when faced with such intolerance.

I read an article recently that said essentially that this is a failure of (classical) liberal theory — the idea that there is no idea so dangerous that it should be forbidden. I tend to agree with that position but it’s true that intolerance appears to breed intolerance.

A former colleague of mine does this thing at the end of every class where she asks students to write anything that’s on their mind at the end of lecture and drop it off as they leave (so she knows what they understood/misunderstood or can address questions people don’t want to ask publicly). In a class of 120 students yesterday she got two neat little notes that indicated that the students had voted for Trump b/c they didn’t want a woman in office.